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Licinius
Valerius Licinianus Licinius (/lɪˈsɪniəs/; Greek: Λικίνιος; c. 265 – 325) was Roman emperor from 308 to 324. For most of his reign, he was the colleague and rival of Constantine I, with whom he co-authored the Edict of Milan that granted official toleration to Christians in the Roman Empire. He was finally defeated at the Battle of Chrysopolis (AD 324), and was later executed on the orders of Constantine.
Born to a Dacian peasant family in Moesia Superior, Licinius accompanied his close childhood friend and future emperor Galerius, on the Persian expedition in 298. He was trusted enough by Galerius that in 307 he was sent as an envoy to Italy, to attempt to reach some sort of agreement with the usurper Maxentius. When Galerius went to deal with Maxentius personally after the death of Severus II, he left the eastern provinces in Licinius's care.
Upon his return to the east Galerius elevated Licinius to the rank of Augustus in the West on 11 November 308, and under his immediate command were the Balkan provinces of Illyricum, Thrace and Pannonia. In 310 he took command of the war against the Sarmatians, inflicting a severe defeat on them. On the death of Galerius in May 311, Licinius entered into an agreement with Maximinus Daza to share the eastern provinces between them. By this point, not only was Licinius the official Augustus of the west but he also possessed part of the eastern provinces as well, as the Hellespont and the Bosporus became the dividing line, with Licinius taking the European provinces and Maximinus taking the Asian.
An alliance between Maximinus and Maxentius forced the two remaining emperors to enter into a formal agreement with each other. So, in March of 313, Licinius married Flavia Julia Constantia, half-sister of Constantine I,[citation needed] at Mediolanum (now Milan); they had a son, Licinius the Younger, in 315. Their marriage was the occasion for the jointly-issued "Edict of Milan" that reissued Galerius's previous edict allowing Christianity (and any religion one might choose) to be professed in the Empire, with additional dispositions that restored confiscated properties to Christian congregations and exempted Christian clergy from municipal civic duties. The redaction of the edict as reproduced by Lactantius – who follows the text affixed by Licinius in Nicomedia on 14 June 313, after Maximinus's defeat – uses neutral language, expressing a will to propitiate "any Divinity whatsoever in the seat of the heavens".
Maximinus Daza in the meantime decided to attack Licinius. Leaving Syria with 70,000 men, he reached Bithynia, although the harsh weather he encountered along the way had gravely weakened his army. In April 313, he crossed the Bosporus and went to Byzantium, which was held by Licinius's troops. Undeterred, he took the town after an eleven-day siege. He moved to Heraclea, which he captured after a short siege, before moving his forces to the first posting station. With a much smaller body of men, possibly around 30,000, Licinius arrived at Adrianople while Daza was still besieging Heraclea. Before the decisive engagement, Licinius allegedly had a vision in which an angel recited him a generic prayer that could be adopted by all cults which Licinius then repeated to his soldiers. On 30 April 313, the two armies clashed at the Battle of Tzirallum, and Daza's forces were crushed. Daza escaped, disguised as a slave, and fled to Nicomedia, where he fortified the area around the Cilician Gates. Licinius's army broke through and Daza retreated to Tarsus, where Licinius continued to press him on land and sea. The war between them ended only with Daza's death in August 313.
Licinius sought out and killed multiple relatives of the Tetrarchs: Daza's wife and two children, Severus's son Flavius Severianus, Galerius's son Candidianus, Diocletian's wife Prisca, and Galeria Valeria, daughter of Diocletian and wife of Galerius.
Given that Constantine had already crushed his rival Maxentius in 312, the two men decided to divide the Roman world between them. As a result of this settlement, the Tetrarchy was replaced by a system of two emperors, called Augusti: Licinius became Augustus of the East, while his brother-in-law, Constantine, became Augustus of the West.
After making the pact, Licinius rushed immediately to the East to deal with another threat, an invasion by the Persian Sassanid Empire.
Licinius
Valerius Licinianus Licinius (/lɪˈsɪniəs/; Greek: Λικίνιος; c. 265 – 325) was Roman emperor from 308 to 324. For most of his reign, he was the colleague and rival of Constantine I, with whom he co-authored the Edict of Milan that granted official toleration to Christians in the Roman Empire. He was finally defeated at the Battle of Chrysopolis (AD 324), and was later executed on the orders of Constantine.
Born to a Dacian peasant family in Moesia Superior, Licinius accompanied his close childhood friend and future emperor Galerius, on the Persian expedition in 298. He was trusted enough by Galerius that in 307 he was sent as an envoy to Italy, to attempt to reach some sort of agreement with the usurper Maxentius. When Galerius went to deal with Maxentius personally after the death of Severus II, he left the eastern provinces in Licinius's care.
Upon his return to the east Galerius elevated Licinius to the rank of Augustus in the West on 11 November 308, and under his immediate command were the Balkan provinces of Illyricum, Thrace and Pannonia. In 310 he took command of the war against the Sarmatians, inflicting a severe defeat on them. On the death of Galerius in May 311, Licinius entered into an agreement with Maximinus Daza to share the eastern provinces between them. By this point, not only was Licinius the official Augustus of the west but he also possessed part of the eastern provinces as well, as the Hellespont and the Bosporus became the dividing line, with Licinius taking the European provinces and Maximinus taking the Asian.
An alliance between Maximinus and Maxentius forced the two remaining emperors to enter into a formal agreement with each other. So, in March of 313, Licinius married Flavia Julia Constantia, half-sister of Constantine I,[citation needed] at Mediolanum (now Milan); they had a son, Licinius the Younger, in 315. Their marriage was the occasion for the jointly-issued "Edict of Milan" that reissued Galerius's previous edict allowing Christianity (and any religion one might choose) to be professed in the Empire, with additional dispositions that restored confiscated properties to Christian congregations and exempted Christian clergy from municipal civic duties. The redaction of the edict as reproduced by Lactantius – who follows the text affixed by Licinius in Nicomedia on 14 June 313, after Maximinus's defeat – uses neutral language, expressing a will to propitiate "any Divinity whatsoever in the seat of the heavens".
Maximinus Daza in the meantime decided to attack Licinius. Leaving Syria with 70,000 men, he reached Bithynia, although the harsh weather he encountered along the way had gravely weakened his army. In April 313, he crossed the Bosporus and went to Byzantium, which was held by Licinius's troops. Undeterred, he took the town after an eleven-day siege. He moved to Heraclea, which he captured after a short siege, before moving his forces to the first posting station. With a much smaller body of men, possibly around 30,000, Licinius arrived at Adrianople while Daza was still besieging Heraclea. Before the decisive engagement, Licinius allegedly had a vision in which an angel recited him a generic prayer that could be adopted by all cults which Licinius then repeated to his soldiers. On 30 April 313, the two armies clashed at the Battle of Tzirallum, and Daza's forces were crushed. Daza escaped, disguised as a slave, and fled to Nicomedia, where he fortified the area around the Cilician Gates. Licinius's army broke through and Daza retreated to Tarsus, where Licinius continued to press him on land and sea. The war between them ended only with Daza's death in August 313.
Licinius sought out and killed multiple relatives of the Tetrarchs: Daza's wife and two children, Severus's son Flavius Severianus, Galerius's son Candidianus, Diocletian's wife Prisca, and Galeria Valeria, daughter of Diocletian and wife of Galerius.
Given that Constantine had already crushed his rival Maxentius in 312, the two men decided to divide the Roman world between them. As a result of this settlement, the Tetrarchy was replaced by a system of two emperors, called Augusti: Licinius became Augustus of the East, while his brother-in-law, Constantine, became Augustus of the West.
After making the pact, Licinius rushed immediately to the East to deal with another threat, an invasion by the Persian Sassanid Empire.
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